Operation Partridge in a Pear Tree
by apples-a-day
Summary: SQ Secret Santa Gift of Reginamea - Henry and Emma have a plan to give Regina a magical Christmas


**Alright! So this year I decided to participate in the SQ Secret Santa, and I got reginamea!**

 **I decided to make a fluffy xmas ficlet, hope everyone enjoys!**

* * *

"Operation Partridge?"

"In a pear tree."

Mary Margaret blinked. "You know I love you Emma but this..."

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Emma shifted in the stool she was sitting on. They were in Mary Margaret's loft, enjoying a nice cup of hot chocolate - with cinnamon of course - and until that moment it had just been another of their weekly bonding sessions, a chance to get to know each other better.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked.

Before she answered, Mary Margaret took a long sip from her mug while she thought about she'd answer this. "Are you sure Regina will be...receptive to this idea?"

"She's not the Grinch."

Mary Margaret smiled. "I know that, but this is the woman that got rid of any and all Disney movies from this town back in the day because she has a personal beef against Walt."

Emma snorted into her cup. "Still, this is Christmas. And Henry and I think she'd enjoy having a surprise Christmas wonderland."

"As long as you don't make it too festive," Mary Margaret said.

"So, that's a no on the talking snowman?"

"That's a definite no."

"But you'll help me?"

Mary Margaret nodded. "I will keep Regina busy for the day while you and Henry set up."

* * *

The plan, as Henry described it, was simple. Get Regina out of the house for the day, and then transform 108 Mifflin into a Christmas Wonderland, so that Regina could experience the true magic of Christmas.

It wasn't that Regina hadn't ever celebrated Christmas. While Henry had been growing up she always looked forward to her little son padding his way to the tree clad in pyjamas and socks, wanting to see what Santa brought him.

But that had been over 5 years ago. Between Henry's distancing due to the whole fairytale thing, plus all the crises they'd had to deal with had left very little time for just a nice holiday together.

And with Regina and Emma now dating - "Finally!" as Henry had exclaimed once they'd told him - Henry figured it was high time to change it up a bit and this time be the ones giving Regina a Christmas celebration she could cherish.

There were only two issues with that. One was to get the house decorated as much as they could without burning it down with Emma's beginner magic, nor astronomically raising Regina's electricity bills; the other was to Regina away from the house long enough to do said decorating.

Which wasn't an easy feat.

"You're sure that grandma will be able to keep mom away long enough?" Henry asked, standing in the middle of the foyer.

Emma nodded. "Come on kid, they are on the mend and will get along swimmingly."

"No one says swimmingly anymore ma."

Waving him off, Emma said, "Less slang, more decorating. You want to tackle the tree and I'll get to decorating the stairs?"

"Deal!" Henry scampered off to the living room. They already had a mediocre tree set up, an old one that Regina and Henry had set up earlier in the month.

But now that one was just going to be a small one, compared to the one that Emma had teleported there. It was a large pine, and with the new ornaments that Henry had helped her to pick out, he was having a ball putting on the decorations.

Meanwhile, Emma decorated the handrail with garland, and hung a few baubles from the walls. In a bit of risky magic that Emma had learnt from Elsa, she waved her hand to get small snowflakes to start falling.

"Looking great ma!" Henry peeked from the room and gave her a thumbs up.

Feeling satisfied with her handiwork, she went over to where Henry was struggling to get the ornaments closer to the top. Despite his growth spurt, Henry wasn't taller than the tree, so Emma helped to finish that off.

Next up, the gingerbread house.

"Wonder what mom is up to?" Henry asked as they got the ingredients from the fridge.

* * *

Regina was losing her patience.

She tried to tolerate Mary Margaret, for Emma's sake, but this was going on a bit too much. It was Christmas Eve, and rather than preparing Christmas dinner, she was stuck wandering the town with her old arch nemesis.

"This has been great and all, Snow, but I should really head back home-" Regina tried for the billionth time.

"Oh nonsense!" Mary Margaret exclaimed. "We still have to visit the...the library!"

Regina narrowed her eyes. "And when did this become the Mayor's Christmas tour of the town?"

Mary Margaret spluttered. "It- it's just to show people you care!"

"I do care, and I don't need to visit them today for them to know that." Regina sighed and said, "While I have enjoyed this, I really must get back home-"

"Not yet!" Mary Margaret exclaimed, a little too loudly, and a little too panicked.

"Okay Snow, you have one minute to tell me what exactly is going on, or else."

But rather than cower before her, Mary Margaret just smiled. "I know that many years ago, that wouldn't have been an idle threat, and I'd actually be fearing you, but I have seen you and Emma cuddling. You cannot make me fear you."

Regina huffed. "Nonetheless, I demand to know what's going on! You've been very persistent on keeping me away from my house. Why?"

Mary Margaret feigned confusion. "No reason. I just know that once you get into the whole spirit of Christmas cooking you're going to be at it all day, so I figured I'd get you to have some fresh air before that."

"Right. Well I believe I'd had enough fresh air for the next few days...my nose is freezing."

"So let's go get some hot chocolate!" Mary Margaret exclaimed, and even had the bravery of taking Regina's hand and leading her to Granny's.

Regina sighed. Something was up, she was sure of it.

* * *

"I think we could call it the gingerbread cave," Henry said, turning his head sideways.

Emma looked helplessly towards their crumbled creation. The panels of gingerbread were all sticking out and looking very much like a cave. Except caves didn't have intricate windowsills with gumdrop ledges.

"We could do a yeti from the left-over frosting and say it's the Yeti's gingerbread cave?"

Not having any better ideas, Emma got to work on the yeti, while Henry finished preparing the cookies.

They were so concentrated with their work, they didn't hear the door open.

But they did hear the voices.

"Honestly Snow, you make it seem like there's some sort of big mystery-"

Emma and Henry rushed out from the kitchen to watch as an apologetic Mary Margaret trailed behind Regina, the latter looking absolutely mesmerized at the transformation of her house.

"Surprise?" Emma tried.

Regina just kept looking flabbergasted, so Mary Margaret took it upon herself to close the front door, and head towards Henry, ushering him into the kitchen. "Come on, let's see where you guys left off."

As Regina and Emma made their way towards each other, they faintly heard Mary Margaret's exclamation of surprise at the gingerbread cave.

"You have frosting on your nose," Regina noted with a smile, pointing at the dollop at the tip of Emma's nose.

Emma wiped it off with a finger, before licking it off.

Regina made a face. "You are unbelievable."

"Wait until you see everything else I've done," Emma added with a grin, leading her over to the living room. "Henry helped of course."

As she kept on looking further into the room, Regina's amazement just kept on growing. "Wow...wha- why?"

Emma shrugged. "Because Henry and I felt that our first Christmas as a family had to be special. Not that the other Christmases won't be special, but Henry told me that you guys hadn't really celebrated these past few years, and after I saw how pitiful your old Christmas tree looked, I knew I had to show you how it's supposed to go down."

Regina's smile kept on growing as Emma kept talking, inching closer and closer to her girlfriend. "That's great and all, but I think you're forgetting something."

Emma looked around wildly. "Pretty sure we've got everything."

"Really?" Regina splayed her hands on Emma's chest, just underneath her collarbone.

"Yeah." Emma swallowed thickly. "The Tree decorations are up."

"I can see. What else?"

"And the sweets are in the kitchen, including a really funny story about the gingerbread house."

"I can't wait to hear all about it," Regina's breath was tickling Emma's chin, and she was finding it very hard to concentrate. "Keep going."

"Well, Henry told me that I shouldn't even dare to mess with your dinner plans, otherwise I'd end up spending Christmas in the shed."

"He's a smart young man. But you're still missing something."

"W-what?" Emma asked, finding it impossible to keep her eyes off of Regina.

By way of answering, Regina pointed above them, where some mistletoe appeared.

"Oh."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Can't break holiday tradition, can we?" Regina asked, before Emma cupped her face and kissed her in such a way that the former felt her knees go weak.

Once they parted, Emma whispered, "Merry Christmas Regina."

"Merry Christmas Emma, and thank you." Regina gave her a peck on the cheek. "This means the world to me."

Taking her hand, Emma lead them to the kitchen, where Regina was treated to quite the sight of the Yeti cave.

Before long, Regina had the kitchen back under her control, and was already dishing out tasks for everyone.

While they waited for dinner to cook, Emma took Regina to sit by the couch and they could watch the new Christmas tree all lit up, and they cuddled together, a warm blanket covering them.

"This is nice," Emma murmured.

Regina hummed in agreement. "I'll be honest, I never thought I'd get this."

"Christmas?" Emma asked.

"Kind of. More like, the thought of coming home to a family that decided to do the most far-fetched and lovely plan to give me a magical Christmas. It's a lovely feeling."

Emma kissed the top of Regina's head. "Wait until next year. Now that we've got our footing, who know what you'll get next year."

"And I'll look forward to it," Regina grinned. "And hopefully that frosting Yeti will have a proper home."

"Never going to give that one up huh?"Emma groaned and Regina took the opportunity to give Emma a kiss on the corner of her lips.

"Don't worry, I will love you nonetheless."

* * *

 **And that was that!**

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this fic, and that they're having a wonderful holidays, whatever you may celebrate, or even if you don't celebrate anything!**

 **I'll try to get more writing up for the new year!**


End file.
